Programme

Eric Whitacre Marimba Quartets – Lux Aurumque / October / Sleep
Steve Reich Music for Pieces of Wood
John Cage Credo in Us
Linda Buckley Discordia
John White Drinking and Hooting Machine
John Luther Adams Qilyuan

Marimba Quartets is a brand new recording for Signum using the warm, earthy sound of the marimba in a spectacular setting, featuring Burgess’ own arrangments of some of Eric Whitacre’s ever-popular choral works.

Steve Reich’s evergreen Music for Pieces of Wood is uplifting, loud and full of the rhythms of West Africa. Using the simplest of possible instruments, this is striking minimlaist music by one of America’s greatest living composers.

John Cage’s satirical Credo in Us pits prepared piano – performing cowboy songs and boogie-woogie – against classical gramophone recordings and live radio. Composed in 1942 and using found objects (tin cans and electric buzzer) the piece’s title is perhaps a call for unity in the wake of Pearl Habour.

The etheral Canna Sonora – a nine-foot tall Aluminium Harp – is the focal point of Linda Buckley’s 2018 Barbican commission Discordia. The pure sounds of this Capone era friction instrument are set within an evocative soundscape of lost voices and dark synths, to create an electronically enhanced fusion that speaks right here, right now.

John Luther Adams’ Qilyaun takes its name from the Iñupiaq word for the shaman’s drum, meaning ‘device of power’. Four bass drums roll in great musical waves to recreate the shaman’s journey, riding the sound of the drum to and from the spirit world.

Performers

Joby Burgess percussion
Rob Farrer percussion
Calum Huggan percussion
Sam Wilson percussion
Eliza McCarthy piano

One of Britain’s most diverse percussionists, Joby Burgess is best known for his virtuosic, often lissom performances, daring collaborations, extensive education work, and regularly appears throughout Europe, the USA and beyond. Both in the studio and on the road Joby Burgess works with artists including Peter Gabriel, Will Gregory, Nicole Lizée, Gabriel Prokofiev, Max Richter and Pete Tong.

Tickets

Tickets £12 (under 20s £6) are available from eventbrite

Travel
Elstow Abbey is sitauted 2 miles from Bedford town centre. Free parking is available within a short walk of the abbey.

Bar
A licensed bar will be operated by friends of Elstow Abbey. Bar profits to the building of Hillersden Hall.